The game of Keno, a numbers game, is well known. In general, a person bets a certain amount of money that certain numbers will come out of a number drawing machine of a possible total and he gets paid in accordance to how many of the numbers that he bets on come out. More explicitly, the person predicts that certain numbers will be drawn by the machine and if one of the bet-on numbers comes out, he gets paid in accordance with a certain odds, the odds depending on how many numbers the person bet on. If two of the bet-on numbers come out, the odds are higher. Similarly, the less numbers he bets on the higher the odds paid him if one or more of the numbers he bets on comes out.
In accordance with the prior art, all betting is done at the central station where the numbers are drawn or a bet is made with the help of one or more Keno persons, usually a girl who walks around the betting establishment. The bettor gets a Keno card from containers at or near the central station or from the Keno girl or from various remote locations. The bettor marks the numbers bet on on the card and gives it to the clerk at the central station or to the Keno girl. The clerk or girl marks another card, similar to the card given him or her, with the same numbers and the amount bet. The cards have on them certain information such as whose game it is, the data and the game number for that date, and usually the hour. The clerk, or girl, keeps the original card for checking purposes as will be explained.
After a period for making bets, the game is closed, that is, no more bets are taken for the game and numbers are drawn, usually twenty at the central location. The bettors flock to the central station where they can observe the numbers that come out and they present the winning cards to pay clerks. First the pay clerk validates the cards, that is he finds the original card given him by the bettor and compares them to see if they are identical. If identical, the clerk counts the number of winning numbers out of the total numbers bet on and finds the odds which is set by the proprietor running the game. This is usually accomplished by looking at an odds sheet which tells what the odds are for the number of winners out of the number of numbers bet on. (It is noted that the order of numbers or the magnitude of the numbers bet on is unimportant. The important point is how many of the numbers bet on came out.)
Then, having found the odds, the amount bet on that game is multiplied by the odds to determine how much the bettor has won. This determination can be made by using a calculating machine, or quite often amounts at odds that frequently occur may be found on one or more sheets.
It will be noticed how much personal attention is required. A clerk or Keno girl must take a duplicate ticket, must accept money, and give change if necessary. He must mark the ticket with the amount bet, the time of the bet, and the number of the game. If a winning ticket is presented, he must validate the ticket, check to see how many numbers came out and how many were bet on. Then he must find the odds and calculate the amount won and pay the ticket holder. The amount of personal attention each bettor gets requires either a great many clerks, or, if the number of clerks is kept at a minimum, the number of bets accepted is reduced on each game, or the number of games played per day is reduced, reducing the number of times the money is turned over and therefore reducing the profits. It can be seen that any way the number of bets per game can be increased, with the number of clerks kept at a minimum, increases the profits.
The paying of winning tickets at the central station is carefully monitored by a supervisor, particularly in those cases when a large amount of money is won. With the now used systems this monitoring consumes a large, if not excessive, amount of time.